Redemption
by MuseofaBlindPoet
Summary: This story is set around the time of Gambit's Trial, without the trial actually happening. Warning: Character Death
1. Prelude

  
  
_Having been tenant long to a rich lord,  
Not thriving, I resolved to be bold,  
And make a suit unto him, to afford A new small-rented lease, and cancel th' old._

  
**The Prayer 12:20am**

_In heaven at his manor I him sought:  
They told me there, that he was lately gone __And about some land, which he had dearly bought Long since on earth, the take possession.  
_  
Deep within the house around the midnight hour a whisper can be heard:  
  
"Saints pr'serve dis tortur'd soul. Let dis boy live 'gain." the man looks around the place he has called home for sometime now and sighs, "Sol' m'soul t'de devil, paid 'nough pain t'buy it back." He slips into the bed falling into a fitful sleep.  
  
**5:30am  
**  
The alarms sound.. an intruder. All are awake and dressed in an instant as a voice echoes through many heads, X-men, to the war room! We have a mission! Upon entering the room the man moves to the wall gazing at the others. Scott, as always, wide awake and ready to command, Jean at his side. Ororo, as beautifully regal and at peace as ever. He envies her, she radiates confidence and internal peace, she is pure and good, and he is the opposite. Logan, groggy and grumpily glaring at the stranger. Rouge; beautiful, strong enough to break every bone in his body with two fingers, yet fragile enough to cry in his arms. Jubilee, a spitfire no doubt, but, the picture of innocence. He drifts away with the thought of innocence, to times past, before his soul was cold.  
  
"X-Men I would like to introduce Draydeece, she runs a halfway house for mutants. At approximately 4:15 this morning they were attacked by, from her description, the Marauders." The man's head snaps up, pulled from his thoughts, his fiery eyes burn with something more than hatred as he concentrates on the professor's words, ".. They took all of the alpha class mutants from the home and killed the rest, which were beta class." Hank, who has been standing next to the woman, rests his hand on her shoulder as she shudders. "We have managed to trace one of the abducted mutant's signature because of its uniqueness, and they are being held in a hidden lab connected to the old Morlock tunnels. I have chosen the eight of you to go down and bring these innocents home."  
  
All present make their preparations and head for the old tunnels.

  
**The Mission 6:00am  
**

_I straight returned, and knowing his great birth,  
Sought him accordingly in great resorts;  
In cities, theatres, gardens, parks, and courts:  
At length I heard a ragged noise and mirth_  
  
The tunnels are no different than he remembers, he knows where they are going, and is leading the way. He had once called this place home, until he sold his soul and helped destroy it. Everyone is watchful waiting for anything, expecting everything. They are close, he can feel it in is bones, the familiar sounds of working machinery and pumping water. He removes a tool from his pocket and slides it against the metallic wall; the squeal of metal on metal is short as it ends abruptly when the tool catches on the hidden panel. He smirks slightly at the irony and ignores the stares of those around him as he punches in the code that has been burned into his memory since the first time he set foot in this hateful place. A door slides to the side opening into the hall and he slips inside, the others following uncertainly. His instincts are at work now, no conscious thought, if he were to let himself think about this he would loose his sanity as he lost his soul. Only one thought stands clear as Jean touches his mind questionably, 'Redemption'.  
  
He moves through the corridor disabling lasers, motion detectors, and other obstacles before they can be enabled. He knows these passages like the back of his hand. He leads them deeper, almost to the very heart of the complex. 'Hmmm ... dis is new.' It's the only thought that he can muster as he triggers a silent alarm that he didn't know existed. The passage behind them closes in, blocking their escape, as the wall infront of them opens to reveal the Marauders between them and the captive mutants.  
  
Don't think.  
  
Fight.  
  
Don't think.  
  
Preserve innocence.  
  
Don't think.  
  
Redemption.  
  
**7:30am  
**  
He didn't see the blast coming as it struck him point blank in the back. The pain is sharp and numbing, as the darkness closes around him the last thing he hears is the tormented scream of his lover. "REMY!"  
  
He hears no more.  
  
He feels no more.  
  
He is no more.

  
**Redemption  
**

_Of thieves and murderers: There I him espied.  
Who straight, Your suit is granted, said, and died._  
  
He gazes around and sees nothing, he feels his tortured soul return to him, he feels it heal. He smiles slightly to nothing and sighs, "Merci" With that he drifts to the first peaceful sleep he has had in a long time.  
  
"Mah Gawd. I saw it, I saw'im fall." Rouge bursts into fresh tears. Logan shakes his head slightly, his voice choked with emotion, "An' here I was doubtin' the kid. The way he was whippin' through that place it was like he knew right where he was goin'," he looks to Jean, "Ya saw it to didn't ya darlin'? Ya thought he was settin' us up to." Jean nods sadly, her voice quiet, "I scanned him in the passage, the only surface thought I could pick up was ... redemption. I don't understand." She shakes her head slightly. Jubilee looks up from her folded hands; "He saved those kids. After he hit that trap, he went right for the kids. Nothing else mattered. He died for them." They stand as Hank steps out of the infirmary. He looks over all of those gathered and is surprised to see everyone who lives in the house before him.  
  
Clearing his throat, "The children are well, the mission was a success, with one fatality. Remy LeBeau was struck with a blast that could have seriously wounded Rouge. His heart stopped almost instantly and I don't think he felt very much pain. Being the first to reach him I would like you all to know that he smiled as he took his last breath." He bows his head, "Try to get some sleep, we'll make arrangements tomorrow." Slowly he moves passed them all and down the hall, they follow slowly all pondering Gambit's thoughts in that final moment.

  
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Please send feedback, all constructive critisim welcome, after all this is my first fan-fic.  
  
(The poem used in the story is: Redemption by George Herbert/1593-1633)


	2. Yesterday is Gone

**Disclaimer:** The characters belong to Marvel. The story is the continuation of 'Redemption'. The poem 'Yesterday Is Gone' was written by a dear friend by the name of Reggie. It was his way of explaining the reasons behind his suicide.  
  
_itallics_ thought

_**bold itallics**_ telepathy

  
**Yesterday Is Gone**

  
_Yesterday is gone now _

_and the blank history _

_slowly unfolds  
  
telling the stories that went untold  
  
the pain and the sadness_

_will not go away_

_the voices must be heard  
  
but I know not what to say  
  
a scorned soul_

_never seems to heal_

_this pain I must conceal  
  
in the pale moonlight I sit and write  
  
a living lie_

_never seems to die_

_but yesterday is gone now_

_and so am I._

  
**Dreams  
**  
_"It's strange how things come to you in your dreams and the truth is revealed"  
_-Elaine 'Nascha' Erickson 1996

Jean sighed in her tormented sleep, images of Gambit falling to the hands of Sinister plaguing her. For the fourth time she bolts up, a scream dying on her lips, a sheen of sweat matting her firey hair to her face. Instantly she realizes she is not in her bed in the boathouse but on a matress in a small, wet, stone room with a large stone door open little more than a foot. In the dim shaft of light coming through the doorway she can barely see well enough to make out the form of another person, a small child. As the child turns to her realization strikes, _This is a tomb, with Remy!_ The shock of the revelation jolts her awake. Glancing at Scott she finds he too is caught yo in some kind of nightmare, and to her horror she cannot touch his mind.  
  
_Scott Summers, my name is Scott Summers, and this is not real._ He thinks desperately as the pain in his chest intesifies. _Oh Got, I'm dying.._ He clutches the wound as he stumbles down the unfamilliar alley, blood spilling from his fingers. Trying to remember how he got into this horrible place he begins to panic. Sliding down the wall next to a stinking dumpster he hears the sounds of the boys who had shot him running past the alley. "Fin' de lil' monster!" the leader yells. _What is happening? Where..._ his thought dies as his brain barely registers the reflection staring at him from the dark window of the abandoned building across from him. It's a boy, no more than seven, demonic eyes wide in shock. _Gam...._ he bolts upright grasping Jean's arm painfully, "bit?!?"  
  
Looking around wildly he focuses on his wife in confusion. Scanning the mansion Jean realizes that Logan is wide awake in the kitchen, Ororo is rocking wildly in her bed, and Rogue is still lost in a nightmare. Jubilee's agonising scream fills the mansion, echoing through the halls. 

  
**Revelations**

_"There is no greater shock than to realize the truths someone was afraid to tell."  
_-Kriz Boudreaux 1996

Gathered together in the kitchen those affected by these strange dreams try to comfort each other and figure this out. Jean stutters a sigh, the dream's grip still on her. "I was in a tomb or something, sleeping there. It was cold and dark, I could feel the loneliness and hunger. It was Remy, I know it. He was there, only he was a child, couldn't have been more than five or six. He was living in that place."  
  
Scott slips his arms around her shoulders as she shudders at the thought. "I dreamed I had been shot. There was a gang I think, I'm not real sure, it was confusing. They were chasing me, I wanted to fight but I was so afraid to. They had cornered me when the one shot me. The others must not have known that was the plan because they backed off and I got away. I thought I was dying. I finally got to a safer place and as I was passing out in the dream I saw my reflection." After a moment's pause he finishes, "I was Gambit, a year or so older than in Jean's dream."  
  
Logan nods slightly, "I was bein' beaten, couldn't do anything 'bout it either. Felt helpless, an' after what seemed like a good ten minutes I started wishin' they'd just kill me an' get it over with." He takes a long pull from his cigar, still trying to settle his nerves. "All of a sudden they just stopped an' I was layin' there. I think th' only things on m'body not broken was m'neck an' back. There was some yellin', couldn' understan' a work of it though. Then this guy was leanin' over me, talkin' t'me, tellin' me I was guna be a'right. When he rolled me over I realised he was a priest an' I thought 'Thank God'. Then he started backin' away from me crossin' himself an' talin' 'bout how I was th'devil's child. It didn't take much t'figure out I was dreamin' I was th'kid after I woke up, but damn.. bein' shunned by a priest like that scared th'hell out'a me. An' they all jus' left me layin' there in a gutter like trash. Wonder if anyone actually helped th'kid."  
  
Ororo looks at them, still rocking slightly, tears still streaming down her cheeks. "He used to sit in windows watching families. Fantasizing that he had one until they would chase him away. That is what I was doing, I was starving and it seemed to be Thanksgiving. Everyone was eating a lot of food, I could not help it, the hunger went away some when I imagined I was sitting at one of those table with family. One man he me across the back with a baseball bat. Not even the church would let me come in and it was so cold and wet. I finally killed a sewer rat."  
  
She closes her eyes tightly for a moment, "I pretended I was eating a nice hot dinner in a warm house with a family that loved me when in reality I was eating a raw rat in a dark, wet dumpster with an old alley cat."  
  
They all sit for a moment in stunned silence as Rogue begins crying again. "Ah thought Ah cried all ah could a'ready." She chuckles slightly taking a deep breath, "Ah was freezin'. People were starin' at me an' Ah was tryin' tah beg f'food but Ah didn' know how tah talk much. Ah was so frustrated an' alone. There was mammas with their chidr'n an' Ah wondered what my mamma looked like an' Ah wanted t'know why she left me out all by myself. He didn' even know who he was, didn' know his name, birthday, or nothin'. Ah guess it wasn' as bad as ya'll but, it hurt somuch an' he couldn' have been more than three or four years old. If Ah hadn' of been there, Ah don' think Ah eveh could'a imagined what that would'a been like. Not knowin'."  
  
Hank nods his head slowly, "My dream was of a simillar nature, being young, along, and very, very frightened. Wandering the streets."  
  
Jubilee stares at them all, her face pale and drawn, her eyes wide, her mind still rejecting the events of her dream. "I can't, you guys had it easy. I can't relive that."  
  
Logan starts to go to her side and she practically leaps away from him, "Don't touch me! Don't anyone ever touch me again!"  
  
She screams in obvious fear, her eyes glued to his hands as she curls up in the corner. Jean edges closer to the girl, her voice soothing as the others stare in shock. "Jubilee, honey. Nothing happened to you, it was a dream about someone else."  
  
The girl's hands clench into fists as she shouts, "It doesn't matter! I felt it, ME! I felt them touching me! Pinning me down! I felt thier.." She sobs brokenly and curls into a tight ball. 


End file.
